Since Sudoku is such a mental game, requiring logic and attentiveness, it’s worth asking, what are some of the personality traits that make people successful at Sudoku?” In a prior article, we identified a few of the traits of amazing Sudoku players. But those aren’t the only ones.

Here are a few more personality traits of successful Sudoku players:

Ready to Recognize Opportunities

Solving Sudoku puzzles requires a sense of attentiveness to opportunity. Good Sudoku players know how to recognize opportunities and spot future chances as they emerge. Ideally, if you want to be a great Sudoku player, you can develop a mindset that helps you see good opportunities and think “two moves ahead” so you can anticipate the next places on the grid where you might be able to place new numbers.

Able to Switch Gears

Sudoku is a game of momentum – each number placed on the grid opens up additional opportunities; each number placed brings you one step closer to solving the entire puzzle. However, sometimes the momentum will grind to a halt. The best Sudoku players know how to “switch gears” mentally and start turning their attention to a different part of the grid, or start looking for opportunities in a different corner of the grid. Sudoku rewards focus and single-mindedness, but it also rewards adaptability.

Meditative Mind

Many Sudoku players find that the game gives them a sense of calm. The process of solving Sudoku puzzles tends to be relaxing and even meditative for many people – and this is especially true for the best Sudoku players, who use Sudoku as a chance to clear their mind and go into a deep-thinking mental state where they seem to “become one” with the puzzle.

The best Sudoku players can play Sudoku every day without distraction, even when surrounded by other people at a noisy coffee shop or on a crowded train. If Sudoku seems to help you enter a meditative state, this could be a sign that you are well-suited to being a successful Sudoku player.

Competitive Nature

Sudoku is a quiet, solitary game – but that doesn’t mean that Sudoku players are shy, meek people. Many of the best Sudoku players are very competitive – they compete at high-end competitions like the Sudoku World Championships where they test their skills against some of the most mind-blowingly impressive Sudoku champions from around the world.

Other top Sudoku players, even if they don’t compete in Sudoku tournaments, are quietly competitive and always want to do better when “competing against themselves” at Sudoku. Sudoku is not just a relaxing game – it’s a quiet battle of trying to “outdo” your personal best score or your fastest time to solve the puzzle. Having a healthy competitive streak is part of being a great Sudoku player.

Sudoku is a fun game no matter what skill level you have, but some of the best Sudoku players are making the game into more of a competitive mental “sport.” There are many healthy and valuable cognitive abilities that are linked to being good at Sudoku – so we should try to be more like the best Sudoku players.

Do you have what it takes to become an amazing Sudoku player? Cultivate these personality traits and find out!

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